Edition: 31 August 2011 | Updated: 21 August 2021
Rock-n-Roll-Exhibition: RANDY SALIM
Crank
:: Playlist, intro, and song descriptions, handpicked and written by Randy Himself ::
First and foremost, a huge heartfelt thanks to Rudolf for asking me to do this: putting this playlist together really took me back to the days where I’d stay up all night with friends making mix tapes, not wanting to cheapen the experience by just sloppily putting a few songs together, but making sure that the whole tape makes sense from start to finish. A coherence. A cohesion. A willingness to sacrifice songs that you like individually because they don’t fit in to the rest of the collective. That geek John Cusack plays in High Fidelity? I’m that guy in real life. I have a million rules to making a mix tape. I agonize over song selection. I lose sleep over track listings. I feel physical discomfort thinking that I may have removed the wrong song from the track listing. I convince myself that this mix tape is as important as reducing global poverty, and I become consumed in the process. So thereâthanks Rudolf for helping me reconnect with my inner-mixtape-making-geek!
So what’s the common thread here? Monstrous riffs, beats that make you want to commit physical assault, vocals that defy medical logic, lyrics written with middle fingers permanently pointing skywardâall the forces that drive you to pump your fist, bang your head, air drum maniacally and air guitar like the biggest fucking retard on the planet. (All of which I did while putting this together!)
None of the stuff here is overly indie or that hard to find. Consider me boring-ass mainstream. Whatever dude. Why bring politics into music? The point here is just to crank it and lose your shit. Enjoy.
Love, peace and death metal.
The Playlist:
01. Wasted – Henry Rollins & Exene Cervenka
I didnât really get Black Flag until I became an angry young man of 35 and Iâve since devoured and dissected their entire discography. Being an enthusiast of cover versions and remakes, I went gaga at this discovery. Itâs basically the Flag because Henry is singing, but with production that doesnât sound like manure.
02. The Underflesh – Superjoint Ritual
Phil Anselmo is probably one of the most versatile vocalists within the metal/heavy rock genre and in Superjoint he sounds a thousand times more brutal, vicious and pissed off than he did in Pantera.
03. Six Pack – Mike Patton
Mike Patton is God. I am a disciple of the Jemaah Patton-iyah. Anyone who thinks differently is welcome to beat me to death. My corpse shall be smiling.
04. Weenie Beenie – Foo Fighters
You know how in Nirvana, Dave Grohl had this Animal-from-the-Muppet-Show style to his playing? Well this track gives you an idea of how Animal would sound if he switched to vocals and guitar.
05. Big Len – The Jim Jones Revue
Englishman Jim Jones takes the rock nâroll boogie woogie formula of the American 50s and ass-rapes it with punk energy and a ton of saliva in his throat.
06. The Waiting Room – Fugazi
Opens and builds with a manic energy before ejaculating into one of the most joyous riffs youâll ever hear within the punk realm. I never really gave a crap about Fugaziâs other stuff but this one puts me in a mental moshpit each and every time.
07. Honey Bee (Letâs Fly to Mars) – Grinderman
Essentially Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds with most of the same members and a different name, as a byproduct of Caveâs experimentations with writing music on guitar which heâs not used to doing. Homeboy experiments with guitar and creates this psychotic brilliance. I experiment with guitar and produce manure. Life is cruel.
08. The Gentle Art of Making Enemies – Faith No More
An album I played to death in my wayward youth and continue to revisit in my wayward adulthood. I repeat: Mike Patton is God. Happy birthday, fucker.
09. Spawn Again – Silverchair
The heaviest Silverchair track ever committed to tape, interestingly enough written a time when Daniel Johns was as light as a feather, suffering from anorexia nervosa. Imagine whacking say, an FPI member, repeatedly with a baseball bat, in beat with this track⦠*smiley face*
10. Scentless Apprentice – Nirvana
In my humble opinion, In Utero was always the better album. This track in particular reaffirms that there was more âmetalâ to Nirvana than anyone cared to admit at the time. Crank it loud enough on your iPod and you can feel the kick-drum pounding on your chest. And yes, that is a good thing.
11. Disciple – Slayer
This is the opening track to a bootleg live album which has amazing sound quality for a bootleg. If you ever have the misfortune of having a truck physically slam into you at full force, I imagine it would make perfect sense to have the opening riff of this track playing in your head at the moment of impact. Other than that, is there a cooler chorus than âGod hates us allâ? No, there isnât. (For TV trivia enthusiasts: itâs also the title of Hank Moodyâs first book in Californication.)
12. Loveâs So Heavy – Rollins Band
From the Rollins Bandâs second-to-last album, Get Some Go Again: Henry at his funkiest.
13. No Speak No Slave – The Black Crowes
This playlist would not be complete with including the almighty Black Crowes, although it was a bitch figuring out which track should make the cut. The logical thing was to go with their most bad-ass second album, where their song-craft and energy were at their alcoholic peak. After that, you can tell it mostly weed. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.
14. Youâre So Vain – Faster Pussycat
A kick-ass, stinky, sleazy glam rock make-over of the Carly Simon classic that first featured on this weird ass record company compilation but later resurfaced on Faster Pussycatâs greatest hits album (which may sound like an oxymoron to some). Within the glam rock league, Taime Downe was probably the least skilled vocalist but his technique was compelling just the same.
15. Burning Your House Down – The Jim Jones Revue
More psycho-boogie brilliance.
16. The Witch – The Cult
The furthest the Cult has strayed from their signature straight ahead blues-metal style. It was the 90s, after all. Anyone with a distorted bass fetish would dig this track.
17. Get Down Make Love – Nine Inch Nails
A Reznor-ized version of an obscure Queen song from—damn—21 years ago. Back when Reznor was still on drugs and nowhere near the Hollywood film industry. The boyâs come a long way. Respect. *fist bump*
Sin EP/1990
18. No Pussy Blues – Grinderman
On Twitter, you get all theses galau bitches whining about how theyâre not getting any and it just sounds beyond pathetic. Nick Cave makes not getting any sound like the most bad-ass thing ever.
19. Success – Iggy Pop
It would be a lot cooler I guess if I said this came from the 1977 Lust for Life album, but Iâm not gonna lie about where I first heard this happy, bouncy little tune. Great Expectations was an immensely forgettable film, but as per the trend of the mid-to-late 90s, was backed up by an interesting star-studded soundtrack. Go hunt it down on Mediafire.
20. Pigs in Zen – Janeâs Addiction
Some bands you will always love and respect but wish they never quit taking drugs. Janeâs is one of those bands for me. Before Dave Navarro became the muscle heart-throb he is now; before Perry Farrell became the organic love-all-serve-all dude he is now â Janeâs was drug rock. And holy shit was that drug rock goooood.
21. Pet – A Perfect Circle
Maynard James Keenan ranks high in my unmade and unimportant list of all-time favorite vocalists. Without resorting to vocal theatrics, the man knows how to tell a story and play different characters. Here, I think heâs playing the role of a kidnapper that canât tell the difference between love and drugged enslavement.
22. Little Dove – Faster Pussycat
Taime Down is the last remaining member of Faster Pussycat and the Faster Pussycat of today is more black leather bondage wear than leopard print scarves. Between the Valley of the Ultra Pussy sees Taime remaking a bunch of old Faster songs with an industrial rock twist. Some of the experiments failed. This one worked.
23. 1970 – Boris
I had the pleasure and honor of watching this brilliant Japanese band at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC in 2010. That statement alone should be enough to make you hate me.
24. Hey Baby – MACC
MACC is an acronym for (Mike) McCready, (Jeff) Ament, (Matt) Cameron and (Chris) Cornell who were all grunge superstars at the time of this release. Wiki says this is their only known recording, and it is a glorious one at that: the production sounds like youâre right there in the studio witnessing this one-take recording, and you walk away with your jaw dragging on the floor.
25. Lookaway – Sepultura with Mike Patton, Jonathan Davis and DJ Lethal
This is the album where Sepultura figured out that if they slow it down, theyâll sound a thousand times heavier. This is the slowest/heaviest track off the album â a vocal orgy between three of heavy rockâs most distinctive voices. If I could see the three performing this live together, I would truly die happy.
26. Just a Man – Faith No More
FNM does gospel. How cool is that?
27. Slip It In/Gimme Gimme Gimme (live) – Black Flag
Iâm hoping that by the time Iâm a grandfather the methodology of time travel would be perfected and commercialized. If I can afford multiple trips back in time, this show would be one of the trips Iâd take. Respect the Flag.
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What Randy says about himself: A husband and father of two boys—the three of them combined being the reason I even bother. Don’t really fit in anywhere so I have the freedom to go everywhere. And wherever it is I go, I always assume that I am the dumbest one in the room. It’s worked well for me so far.
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Upcoming shows/exhibitions*:
– September 07 | Exhibition: Kartika Jahja (singer, songwriter)
– September 14 | Exhibition: Rio Farabi (guitarist of White Shoes & The Couples Company, multifaceted artist)
– September 21 | Exhibition: Wok The Rock (Visual artist, founder Yes No Wave Music)
– September 28 | Exhibition: Djundi Prakasha (owner of Fame Station, avid fan of U2)
And more exhibitions by Wening Gitomartoyo, Josh Howard, Tony Tandun, Anto Arief, Adi Cumi, Ricky Surya Virgana, Tony Trax, and more.
See yâall again next Wednesday!
Boozed, Broozed, and Broken-boned,
RUDOLF DETHU
*subject to change
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The Block Rockinâ Beats
Curator: Rudolf Dethu
Every Wednesday, 8 – 10 PM
The Beat Radio Plus – Bali, 98.5 FM
120 minutes of cock-melting tunes.
No bullcrap.
Zero horse shit.
Rad-ass rebel without a pause.
Shut up and slamdance!
